Was US Air Force General Dan Caine pressured by Trump or Hegseth on Iran strike intel?
US Air Force Gen. Dan Caine, on Thursday (June 26) firmly dismissed speculation that he had been pressured by President Donald Trump or Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to alter his assessment of the recent US strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities.
'No, no, I have not. And no, I would not,' Caine stated during a Pentagon press briefing.
He reiterated his role as a nonpartisan military advisor, saying: 'My job as the chairman is to offer a range of options to the president and the National Command Authority, to deliver the risks associated with each of those, and then take the orders of the National Command Authority and go execute them. I've never been pressured by the president or the secretary to do anything other than tell him exactly what I'm thinking, and that's exactly what I've done.'
Caine's comments came alongside new revelations about the US operation targeting Iran's Fordow nuclear facility, which he described as the result of '15 years of incredible work.'
The strike, part of Operation Midnight Hammer, was designed to destroy the heavily fortified underground enrichment site by targeting its key ventilation shafts.
'All six weapons at each vent at Fordow went exactly where they were intended to go,' Caine said.
Caine confirmed that Iran attempted to block the shafts with thick concrete caps, likely in anticipation of a US strike.
'I won't share the specific dimensions of the concrete cap, but you should know that we know what the dimensions of those concrete caps were,' he said.
The first wave of bombs shattered the caps, allowing subsequent munitions to penetrate the main shaft.
'Weapons two, three, four, and five were tasked to enter the main shaft, moved down into the complex at greater than 1,000 feet per second and exploded in the mission space.'
A sixth 'flex weapon' was on standby to ensure mission success if any earlier strike failed.
Caine said planning began in 2009 when a Defense Threat Reduction Agency officer was briefed on satellite and classified intel showing suspicious construction in the Iranian mountains.
'This officer and his teammate lived and breathed this single target—Fordow,' he said. 'They watched the construction, the weather, the discard material, the geology, and the construction materials.'
Weapons were customized to neutralize the facility's functions.
'Weapons were planned, designed and delivered to ensure they achieved the effects in the mission space.'
Caine was asked if he agreed with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's earlier characterization of the site as 'obliterated.' He declined to echo the term.
'We don't do [battle damage assessments],' he said. 'I'll refer that to the intelligence community.'
Instead, he shared a field report: 'Trailing jets saw the first weapons explode and the pilots said: 'This was the brightest explosion I've ever seen. It literally looked like daylight.''
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth stepped in, criticizing 'irresponsible reporting based on leaks.'
'Caine doesn't do politics,' he said. 'That's my lane. So, I can use the word 'obliterated.' He could use 'defeat,' 'destroyed,' 'assess,' all of those things.'
Caine again deferred to intelligence agencies: 'The IC should be able to help you answer that question… They look at a variety of things. I don't do that.'
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